The Digital Animal with Renier Lombard: Recent Episodes
Renier Lombard and Jonathan Warncke
Learn to survive and thrive in the digital jungle with Renier Lombard, the Digital Animal. Renier shares his experience, his resources, and his tools for doing more, better, more profitable digital business in this podcast for entrepreneurs, executives, creators, and clients. New episodes drop twice a month on Mondays. If you have a question or comment, or just want to connect with us, go to www.speakpipe.com/digitalanimal and leave us a voice message.
This episode is all about money, and we cover two very important topics - maintaining cashflow and getting paid.
Renier also shares a strategy that he used when a company that owed him money took the work and ghosted him. Let's just say he got paid the next day.
In the episode we talk about a very useful YouTube video by Mike Monteiro, which you can find here
Here are some highlights if you want to skip ahead:
1:00 - Introduction
2:00 - A lot of people seem to have problems getting paid
3:35 - Cashflow is the backbone and blood of your business
5:25 - Two types of client you should be wary of doing business with
7:55 - Don't do work on the promise of there being more work down the line
9:30 - Why a 90-day waiting period for payment?
10:40 - F you, pay me.
12:00 - Service Level Agreements set the rules
14:45 - the 50-25-25 payment method
17:00 - Maintaining cashflow once you start scaling
20:10 - How the pandemic has affected Renier's business, Flance
25:25 - Losing clients isn't bad, but you need a strategy to replace them
27:28 - Getting everything you can out of all you've got - book
29:00 - Protecting staff when you lose clients
30:25 - How Renier got payment when a client ghosted him <-- GOLD
As we mentioned at the end of the show, we're taking a bit of a hiatus to build the website, and for Renier to focus on scaling his business up. We're excited to be back, bigger and better, in December.
Stay safe out there.
In the wake of the unrest in KZN and Gauteng, a lot of people are considering their options. Not the least those who have lost their businesses and the infrastructure that supports them and their families.
In parallel, we've got the pandemic, and as vaccinations in South Africa gather momentum, perhaps a glimmer of hope that we'll be able to return to something of a normal life near the end of 2021, and even travel overseas.
With that in mind, we present our thoughts on digital nomadism and essentially make the argument that if you're working remotely right now and your boss, clients, or employees are comfortable with that, don't rush back to the office. Consider travelling and working as a digital nomad.
Here are some time stamps if you're interested in specific topics:
1:05 - Do you really need to be in the country to do the work you do?
2:45 - Jon's new show - South African Ex-Pats
3:45 - Why not stay a little longer? Or a lot
8:50 - Nomadism can enhance your digital presence
12:15 - If you can go, go
14:20 - Business owners need to get on board with nomadism, too
16:15 - A couple of tips and resources for the potential nomad
Check out Nomadlist
19:10 - Generational mindsets about digital nomadism and remote work
21:00 - The things you own, own you
23:10 - It's all about having options
24:45 - Do you really want to go back?
This episode is about people. How the 'human resources' landscape has changed since 2020. we've all been feeling the strain after almost a year-and-a-half of lockdowns and remote work, and this may be a good time to:
- Work on your remote working skills.
- Reset some boundaries.
- Step away from the fridge (okay, that's mostly Jon's problem)
Short on time? Skip ahead with these time stamps:
1:25 - Remote working + pandemic + winter = Grind.
3:25 - It's hard to have an idea of how big your company is when you can't see them.
4:35 - Work never ends now.
6:25 - Separation, stimulation, and balance.
8:40 - The skillset that enables remote work and a balanced lifestyle.
13:20 - Building your remote-working skills.
14:20 - Do you really want to go back to traffic jams?
15:40 - Do more of what makes you uncomfortable until you're good at it.
18:15 - The benefits of running a company with a remote workforce.
22:25 - Remote working wellness coaches, it's going to be a thing.
24:20 - How to project yourself professionally in a remote-working world.
29:40 - The Japanese concept of honne and tatemae.31:25 - Some final words of advice
Remember that you can get in touch with us via www.speakpipe.com/digitalanimal
Drop us a voice message if you have a question or comment, or just if you want to connect and say hi. That’s what this is all about.
In this episode, Renier and Jon talk about their worst failures, how they grew from their experience, and the importance of accepting failure as a given when you're an entrepreneur.
We cover how Renier's agency's difficult restructuring process were crucial to it surviving the upheaval of the pandemic.
Jon talks about how getting fired at 19-years-old ended his underachieving days.
0:40 - We should celebrate our failures
1:00 - Renier's worst failures
9:20 - The ideal agency format to survive a pandemic
11:35 - The ad industry is a horrible place
15:45 - One of the best pieces of advice Renier's dad gave him
19:40 - The one where Jon gets fired
20:40 - A lens to look at failure through
23:50 - How can digital give you freedom to fail?
25:10 - The end of office politics
27:20 - Learning from failure
28:20 - Consistency kills failure and winning at wrapping up
Got a question or comment? Drop us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/thedigitalanimal
In this episode Renier talks about strategic partnerships
- How investing some time, energy, and a few cups of coffee can have the same effect as a huge marketing budget.
- How to work with your competitors rather than against them.
- How to structure referral agreements that will bring in new business and generate passive income for you and your partners, creating ultimate win-wins.
Your time is precious, so here are some shortcuts to key moments in the episode:
1:00 - Businesses should share knowledge and, yes, business
2:10 - How to leverage other people’s relationships
5:50 - Don’t pitch your services, have someone else do it
6:00 - Advice when creating strategic partnerships - values, clients, services
9:00 - Abundance mindset when partnering
10:45 - Structuring a referral or partnership agreement
12:20 - How big businesses are built on referral marketing
16:45 - Block out some time for networking and business development
18:45 - You don’t have to do business with everyone
20:10 - What if someone is a taker rather than a giver?
22:25 - Putting partner logos on your website
24:00 - Taking a day for relationship and therefore business development
26:00 - People care about what’s important to them
28:25 - Who to contact first and how
33:45 - What you can start doing right now to build strategic partnerships
Remember that you can get in touch with us via www.speakpipe.com/digitalanimal
Drop us a voice message if you have a question or comment, or just if you want to connect and say hi. That’s what this is all about.
In a worldwide marketplace of people who do what you do, are you really the best? No, probably not.
But no person is an island. The relationships you hold and the trust others put in you makes you more than just a set of skills and experience. So get started today on building your brand, building your network, and building trust.
Short on time? Feel free to skip ahead.
0:30 - The importance of starting early
2:14 - Your resume is just one piece of the job application puzzle
3:38 - Tuning your profile for jobs and clients
9:45 - What if you’re 18 years old?
18:45 - Keep your resume up to date without fear
22:55 - How to go about connecting with someone - the Cadence System
29:40 - Resources on building relationships - The Five Love Languages. (Let us know if you’ve got any recommendations)
30:26 - Renier’s business coaches and mentors, Mike Handcock and Landi Jac
31:25 - Coaches are invaluable
36:45 - Coaches, referrals, networking, and strategic partnership = no advertising
37:00 - LinkedIn Sales Navigator and pro memberships - what’s the deal?
43:35 - What’s the first place to start?
Resources:
The Five Love Languages- Gary Chapman
Q&A:Remember you can get in touch with us via www.speakpipe.com/thedigitalanimal
If you've got any questions or something to add to the conversation, drop us a voice message and we'll chat about it in a forthcoming episode.
Welcome to the Digital Animal Podcast. We’re here to accelerate new digital businesses, transform existing businesses, and use the word business too many times in a single sentence.
Renier Lombard is your host and he’s joined by co-host, Jonathan Warncke.
Renier is a serial entrepreneur, agency owner, and digital animal. He’s here to share his knowledge and experience in the digital space, and do everything HE can to help YOU succeed.
Jonathan is a creative director, copy consultant, and podcast producer. He’s here to make this podcast sound good and learn from Renier as he builds his podcast production company from the ground up.
In this first episode, we introduce ourselves, tell you a little bit about where we’re coming from and how we aim to serve the business community.
If you’re in a rush, here are some shortcuts to key moments in the episode:
- 0:40 - Using an emoji in your LinkedIn name helps sort the real from the robots
- 3:55 - Who this podcast is for?
- 4:10 - What value are we trying to add?
- 6:00 - The business that Jon is building
- 7:15 - How businesses big and small view digital
- 7:45 - Digital ecosystems
- 9:15 - Renier’s story - Hard work, burnout, and the digital epiphany
- 14:10 - Contract-free client relationships
- 14:28 - That time Renier got fired
- 16:15 - Doing stuff you can’t do when you start out
- 16:56 - You’re not a freelancer, you’re a consultant
19:25 - Wrap-up - We’re raring to go, we’re building a website to support the show, and we’ve got a lot more great content coming. Join us to learn and chat to us via our Speakpipe Q&A. Just go to www.speakpipe.com/thedigitalanimal to drop us a voice message if you have a question or comment, or just if you want to connect and say hi. That’s what this is all about.